It’s good to have things you can rely on as the world has been closed by the pandemic. Things like Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, a secluded table at the bar and Cheryl’s wonderful service. Let’s see what Linda has for us today:
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘toss.’ Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!”
As long as we don’t toss our cookies.
If we were having a beer, you’d have a surprise for me.
“Just the man I was hoping to see. Cheryl, please bring Dan a Corona.”
“David, why are you acting like we just met? We’ve been coming to this bar for years.”
“It’s just that I was hoping you’d be early today. You see, I brought…”
“…Your laptop? You brought your laptop. Are you planning to show me something?”
“Actually, I was hoping you would fix it for me.”
“Here’s a nice cold Corona, Dan. David, I took the liberty of preparing a John Howell’s special for you.”
“Cheryl, I’m not sure John would want to be associated with the entire eclectic mix. I think he’s more of a ‘three fingers, straight-up’ sort of guy.”
“Well Dan, he loaned us his name, so, as Super Chicken said to Fred…”
“He knew the job was dangerous when he took it.”
“Exactly. Kinda like what’s about to happen to you and David’s laptop.”
“Except, I don’t recall agreeing to take this job.”
“Price of the package, my young friend. The beer, and an appetizer of your choice are yours – if you get this thing to boot up.”
“I’ll be back for your order, Dan.”
“Thanks Cheryl.”
“I am sorry to bother you with this on Independence Day, Dan, but I really need that stupid thing to work. Besides, you don’t have much else to keep you occupied.”
“That’s true. The Fireman’s carnival was cancelled. There won’t be any fireworks. There’s no Twilight Zone Marathon, and the only sports on TV is the Corn hole championship.”
“Grown men and women tossing beanbags at a piece of plywood – now that is sad.”
“You think that’s sad, David, grown men and women are betting on that championship.”
“Ugh, well at least you can always retreat to your workshop.”
“Nope.”
“What? Don’t tell me the power tool moratorium in in effect.”
“Fully, through July sixth, according to she who must be obeyed.”
“Why the sixth?”
“Anniversary – That’s the date of my last Fourth of July Emergency Room visit.”
“I didn’t think your wife was superstitious.”
“She’s not. She is pretty good at pattern recognition, though. She rode with me to the ER in the ambulance.”
“Speaking of emergency care, do you think you can fix that?”
“No.”
“No, what do you mean?”
“You have several things that won’t load at start-up, because you’re still running Windows Seven.”
“What should I do?”
“Toss this into the dustbin and buy a new laptop.”
“Is that what you did?”
“No, I upgraded to Windows Ten.”
“Sure, you acted early, when the upgrade was still available.”
“No, I did it in April of this year. You know, during the brief shutdown for the Corona Virus.”
“Really? Can I upgrade now?”
“Yes, you can. Microsoft left the upgrade site in place, and you can get the instructions at CNET.”
“That’s great news. How long does it take?”
“My laptop was done in less than an hour.”
“In other words, pepperoni pizza and beer time.”
“David, are you suggesting I upgrade this here?”
“Cheryl, does the bar have WiFi?”
“Yes, David, for paying customers.”
“Can we have the password?”
“It’s ‘IAmPlanningToLeaveABigTip’ initial caps, with dollar signs at both ends.”
“Cute – I will comply, Cheryl. Dan, what appetizer do you want?”
“Chowder.”
“Chowder? In this heat? What’s wrong with you?”
“Easy David. Lots of people are ordering clam chowder. We didn’t have it on the takeout menu – they missed it.”
“I’m one of those people. I’ll have a bowl of chowder, the WiFi password and a small extension cord, if you don’t mind, Cheryl.”
“And, when he’s done with the chowder, put a large pizza in for us.”
“Large?”
“Yes, Cheryl, large. In case there are complications.”
“If there are complications, Dan is going to need more beer.”
“OK, but I can’t afford to let him become impaired.”
“Not to worry.”
“OK, David, now I need your password. Please tell me it’s not one-two-three-four.”
“Here, let me write it down for you.”
“No wonder your laptop is slow. Did you think Microsoft doesn’t know about this?”
“It’s my little rebellion.”
“Here’s your chowder, Dan, and a fresh Corona.”
“Thanks Cheryl. This would be easier to do if we were sitting at the bar, hint, hint.”
“No can do, my friend. And according to the governor, you won’t be sitting there this summer.”
“Whaaaaaat?”
“Yep. Seeing what happened in Florida, California and Texas, he’s decided not to let bars open.”
“Until when?”
“Pigs fly – cows come home – hell freezes over – and like that.”
“Keep this table reserved for us, please.”
Note: most of the bunny pictures were taken by the Editor.
In case you don’t remember Super chicken
No Facilities 
This week’s post is informative and highly entertaining, Dan. How are people who own bars surviving financial if they can’t open?
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I’m glad you liked this Robbie. If the bars serve enough food, they can open at 50% capacity, but table service only. They can also offer outside dining and takeout (including alcohol). No “belly up to the bar” though. Apparently, it’s just about the easiest way to spread the virus. Close quarters, no masks, impaired judgement, laughing and loud. I hope the find a solution soon.
Take care.
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Thanks, Dan, you too.
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The baby bunnies stole my heart, Dan. MuMu, Maddie, Snoopy, and the squirrels are adorable, but it’s hard to compete with the fuzzy bunnies. As for bars, I think some of ours are now open, but only if they have tables–no sitting at the bar itself allowed. It is sad, but totally understandable, that so many states have had to reimpose restrictions as the rate of infections has skyrocketed.
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I was on my way out with Maddie when I saw the bunnies. The fo steak the show.
We are open and holding at 50% – no bar top service. I can work with that. I’m not interested in a crowded room.
Take care Mike.
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They are ALL cute! MuMu looks like she has six toes. Happy Independence Day Dan!
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Thanks Pam. From my point of view, MuMu looks like she has six claws. She demands to be petted and brushed, until she’s ready to sleep. Then it’s hands off, if you know what’s good for you.
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You’ve got a small zoo going on at your house – animal friends everywhere you look. :-) Looking forward to hearing from you on Monday and that it doesn’t include any ER trips. :-)
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I am planning a quiet weekend, Judy. We do have quite the group of critters here. Word seems to get around that it’s a safe place to visit and leave your babies.
Stay safe this weekend!
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Yes, all the critters are adorable, but I especially like baby Snoopy waiting for dinner.
So glad MiMi and MuMu are both getting some undisturbed rest for a change. Looks like Maddie might be squeezing in ‘sit’ time between storms again today.
Kudos to the Editor for making tools off limits temporarily!! Better safe than sorry.
Happy Independence Day Dan.
🐾Ginger 🐾
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I almost got pecked trying to get a closer view of that baby bird. Snoopy is one tough little mom. She screams when the bluejay sits on her house, and when it flies off, she chases it for about 30′. When I raised my phone up to the birdhouse, she flew in screaming!
Everybody is sleeping in today, except Maddie. She’s had her walk, and her and the Editor have already sat on her deck.
I will be staying safe. I hope you enjoy the weekend, Ginger. Give Murphy a scritch from Maddie.
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Happy 4th Dan. And wise listening to SWMBO. Do stay out of the ER. Of course that should be everyone’s goal these days. I don’t know relatively speaking what is worse. Well yes I do. Going to ER with or without Covid-19 is worse. Working on a bust out PC in a perfectly functioning bar ? I think that was the first item on the second tablet Moses dropped in the History of the World Part I. I cannot believe there is not some kind of campaign to give the doctors and nurses in ER and ICU a break. Oh and save our own butt in the process. We could go through several cases of Corona trying to make sense of this maskless denial of Covid-19. Like the one expert said “it is much easier to wear a mask than it is to wear a ventilator. Stay safe, stay healthy, and drink plenty of Corona at home to fight the virus…
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I don’t want to visit an ER for any reason. At best, it’s the easiest place to catch the virus, except maybe for an overcrowded bar. I wear my mask for you – it’s a simple way to be kind, and it’s effective. How can anyone have a problem with that? Figuring that out will take a case of Corona – the non-viral kind. I’m going to get started later today on that ponder.
I hope you have a great weekend, John. Stay safe and hydrated/lubricated
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Indeed indeed indeed. Very profound in a pre-philosophy sauce kind of way.
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Your Saturday posts never disappoint, Dan. The Editor did a great job with the pics. Looks like all God’s creatures needed a day out, except those content in the comforts of home. I laughed when I saw Super Chicken. I had forgotten about that one.
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We have to check for the baby bunnies every time we try to go out. They like to eat right in front of the door for some reason. They are so cute that we hate to disturb them. When I saw two of them munching, I brought the dog back in and told my wife to go see the bunnies.
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I think ours have retreated during the daylight hours. We often see them just before dusk.
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Ours have a lot of places to hide, under the steps, under the log racks, in the garden. They do disappear during the heat of the day (sometimes I wish I could).
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All the babies!! The bunnies are precious, the squirrell….of course, he’s cute! Oh, Florida–what can you say. Pence says ‘you got this.’ What a jerk. More restaurants are closing, bars are ticked off, breweries are selling on the street. What a circus it is here. Have a safe and Happy Fourth, Dan. The Editor is really watching out for you. The password thing–that cracked me up. When my husband worked on computers and needed a user’s password, he could tell it was gonna be something weird when the user blushed and had to explain why said password was chosen. Women more so than men!
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The bar I like in New York City once had the WiFi password set to “I WontBeAJerk” – When I was doing end user support, I ran into the blushing users often. Each time Microsoft upgraded Office, you could expect a few F-MSoft passwords.
I guess our Gov is trying to avoid the FL/TX/CA/AZ results of opening up to much, too fast. I hope we figure this out somehow. Wishing it away doesn’t seem to be working.
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I love Cheryl’s password. My husband has told me plenty of IT horror stories about how even big businesses sometimes have simple passwords. The problem now of course is it everybody wants a difficult password and you can’t possibly remember all of them and of course you’re not supposed to write them down. I have a password manager.
I understand about bars, as the combination of alcohol and the need to not get close together doesn’t work well and works less well as the night progresses. I cannot understand the problem with wearing a mask. But I still seeing people here are not wearing them and, I hate to say it, men are the worst offenders. I think they need to have an ad campaign titled “Real men wear masks.”
A happy and healthy Fourth to all of you.
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I don’t understand not wearing masks, weak passwords or using the same password for everything. When I was working, we gave everyone access to a password manager for free. Still, they set stupid passwords. It’s the same thing – I can be safe, but I choose not to be – I don’t get it.
I’m visiting the bar during the slowest point of the day, having a beer and taking my food to go. At least I get to talk to the bartender. If it gets crowded, I’m out of there.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
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We need to support businesses as best we can, but not at the expense of our health, so I’m with you. As for passwords, what can you say? These days illustrate too well that people have an infinite capacity for stupidity. Sigh.
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And you really can’t fix stupid.
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Only a Darwin award winner has figured out the solution. :-)
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I thought everyone had Win10 or an Apple product by now. You’re a good man to help out David.
I live in a state where bars are still open (ugh!) and two communities are having fireworks at different locations so people can stay parked in their cars. However, I doubt that all people will stay in their cars, social distance or wear masks (ugh). I’m staying far away from that.
Happy Independence Day, Dan! Enjoy your SAFE weekend, have a beer, relax.
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I have a few friends who are still running Windows-7. The upgrade is available and free, but they like what they like. Pointing out that it’s not being updated for security is like telling some people to wear a mask.
I am laying low this weekend – no power tools – but I will enjoy an adult beverage ;-)
I hope you weekend is a good one.
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Cute baby pictures!😄
Sent from my iPad
>
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I’m glad you like them.
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All that food and beer talk has me going. Good thing we did a ‘grocery run’ yesterday. Well, hubs did it. Most of the joy of shopping has left me now. My tole is decontamination tech now. And speaking if stupid governors, ours has yet again held inane press conferences that state responsible folk will Wear masks in public but there will be no consequences for those who choose not To cuz..well..how can you enforce that, really? And most beaches will be open with ‘distancing rules in place’. This has become much like those small appliance warnings that say not to use while sleeping. Or drug commercials that tell you not to take it if you are allergic to the drug itself. Babble. 🤬I have to go serve myself a Yuengling Flight now. And some potato salad for breakfast. Happy Fourth Dan. So sorry about Twilight Zone and everything else. 😔Stay well and don’t touch those power tools! 😉
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Thanks Cheryl. I have Corona on ice here. No tools in use. No crowds and hopefully, nothing stupid on the agenda. I’
m glad you could join us today :-)
I hope you have a great weekend.
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Getting too far behind on Windows updates fried one computer for me. Had to “toss” it. ;) I try to stay updated, even though it can be a huge pain in the neck.
It’s a particularly wonderful gallery today, Dan. I loved seeing so many baby animals. It’s kind of you to leave some untouched areas for them. Hugs on the wing.
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We aren’t big on a picture perfect lawn. The bunnies and the bees seem to like the “weeds” so we work with them.
I have a couple friends still hanging on to Win7 – this upgrade is easy and free.
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Love your post – especially the bunnies!!! How adorable!!! Thanks for sharing Dan. Have a great weekend!
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I’m glad you like this.
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Super post, Dan. I enjoyed all the bunny photos. Yes, Texas opened the bars and then closed them again. Just too many cases as a result of no social distance. Better to sit at a table than lay in the ER. The Producer got a big laugh out of the July 4th moratorium on shop work. My moratorium day is Father’s Day. Spent many a father’s day in the ER.
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That’s a bad day to get hurt, John. Funny that we have our days. I am at the bar. It is empty, but I’m ok with that. I got my corner table.
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Good for you, Dan.
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LOL! I laughed out loud reading Cheryl’s wifi password! Clever!!! The Editor is clever too for having a work stoppage on the 4th of July! No repeats to ER is a good thing!
The critters are adorable!
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I’m glad I could make you laugh. No ER visits is a good thing on any weekend, but this one is special.
I hope you guys are having a good weekend.
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We are, thanks! Just chilling at home. We’ve been over at Baby Girl’s visiting. Now I’m catching up with blogs while he’s grilling and chillin. 😀
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Enjoy!
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Love the rabbits. I wish we could get that close to ours. They still startle easy. Sorry about the bars status. Better to learn from our mistake though. They just need to let you convert to drive through or curbside. Haha. Only in Texas.
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We can get alcohol to go, but I have beer at home, so that doesn’t help. I go, I sit at an isolated table, but at least I can chat with the bartender – over there.
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What!? no Twilight Zone Marathon! I don’t usually watch the TZ marathon, but it’s still nice to know it’s there for an episode or two. I love your menagerie of furry friends.
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No TZ marathon. However, I have watched several episodes on Hulu. We have so many bunnies in this neighborhood this year. I’m glad you enjoy seeing them.
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The Editor is an excellent bunny photographer. MuMu’s sleepy photo makes me smile, though — somehow cats manage to look snuggly and entitled all at the same time.
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They always look entitled 😏
Glad you like the bunnies. It’s getting hard to take a picture without having a bunny in the frame.
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LOL – great post. An Editor that’s good at pattern recognition is essential, and it’s wise to recognize her as such. ;-) Plus, no offense, she’s darn good at catching bunny photos too! I was happy to see that I’m not the only one letting the weeds grow for the critters. This weekend, we’ve stayed home. We did take a drive to the grocery store just a few miles down the road from where we live. On the way we saw a packed beachfront, a few bars with full parking lots, an island with boats 9 deep surrounding it, boats and jet skis all over the lake, and closer to our home a steady stream of jump planes dropping parachutes in the sky all day long. Some 4th of July weekend traditions seem to hang on. It was in the upper 90s – low 100s, so people wanted to cool off? I remember last year when you were watching the Twilight Zone Marathon. Our cable box went out this past week, and frankly, it’s been nice not being able to see the nightly news. The strange thing is when our bars opened up back in mid-May, there wasn’t a spike in cases or deaths. Perhaps people were more careful back then? I hope you enjoy your last day before returning to the workshop! Stay well and safe!
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If I see a crowded parking lot, I’m not pulling in. I have plenty of beer at home. I think this would go so much better if we exercised common sense. Maybe it isn’t common.
We have been in and out of the 90s for weeks, and it looks like we have another week coming.
I agree about the news. I try to watch the least amount necessary.
Stay safe.
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I’m with you on not entering a place that is packed, but that’s not new for me, I’ve always done that. I’m not a fan of crowded spaces.
I also agree with you, common sense seems to have taken a hiatus.
We’re in our 2nd week of highs like that, today its supposed to hit 105 heat index.
News reports during an election year are my least favorite to listen to.
Cheers to a full fridge of beer! Stay well, Dan!
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You, too, Shelley.
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I never thought sports would drop as low as Corn Hole. If people were sensible, Governors wouldn’t be swinging the pendulum back and forth. Sigh! So… if gyms can open (in MA), then why can’t museums? Enough… sorry. Love the bunnies. They’re all over our yard in the evenings. The crows have decided to form an unwelcome gang in the neighborhood, so no hawks lately. We can’t have it all, I know. Great post, Dan.
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I don’t understand these things, Jennie. Our museums are allowed to open, but I’m not sure when they are going to do that. It’s like everything else, they have to bring back staff, but can only have limited guests. I guess we (they) are all trying to figure this out. I hope you’re having a nice weekend.
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I don’t understand these things, either. Your guess/thought process is as good as mine, probably better. I hope you’re having a good weekend, too. Best to you, Dan.
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Glad to see that Corona masked up, Dan! Nice set of pics, including your bunnies. I’ve got a bunch of them living in my yard this year, and they’re pretty cute. Give MiMi a scritch for me.
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Will do, Paul.
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